As you may have guessed from the title I am as usual trying to catch up with the processing of some of my photo’s at this time of year because I work during the week and head out at the weekends to discover and photograph more bugs before this season ends.

These particular macro photo’s are from several trips to one of the Hampshire Wildlife local nature reserves, Blashford Lakes, from late July through to end of September. They showcase the variety of insects to be found along with giving you an insight into the different stages of their lives.

I will begin with my favourite of the lot, up close and personal with a Honey Bee (Apis mellifera).

Honey Bee up close

The following photo’s are the ones taken towards the end of July, sarting with another type of bee, the Bumble Bee (Bombus), and then followed by another, a solitary bee.

Bumble Bee head shotSolitary Bee

The next two photo’s are caterpillars, which later in life transform into butterflies, moths or sawflies.

Peacock caterpillarBlack caterpillar

Beetles are also around like this possible False Firefly Beetle (Drilus flavescens) and Common Red Soldier Beetle (Rhagonycha fulva)

Possible False Firefly BeetleCommon Red Soldier Beetle

A much smaller insect to be found in July are weevils, like these Cionus hortulanus weevils.

I combined two images together so as to be able to get both weevils in sharp focus in the first shot.

The remainder are from late August and September, beginning with another type of insect, flies, specifically a Dexiosoma caninum parasitic fly (Family Tachinidae) and a pair of mating Flesh-flies (Sarcophaga carnaria)

Dexiosoma caninum parasitic flyMating Flesh-flies

I used a new processing tecnique for the taken in September, processed with Topaz Studio adjustments including their latest adjustment Detail.

Once again a varied selection of insects until the last which is an arachnid.